An example of a direct multiplexed, rms (root mean square) responding electronic display is the well-known liquid crystal display (LCD). In such a display, a nematic liquid crystal material is positioned between two parallel glass plates having electrodes applied to each surface in contact with the liquid crystal material. The electrodes typically are arranged in vertical columns on one plate and horizontal rows on the other plate for driving a picture element (pixel) wherever a column and row electrode overlap.
In rms-responding displays, the optical state of a pixel is substantially responsive to the square of the voltage applied to the pixel, i.e., the difference in the voltages applied to the electrodes on the opposite sides of the pixel. LCDs have an inherent time constant that characterizes the time required for the optical state of a pixel to return to an equilibrium state after the optical state has been modified by changing the voltage applied to the pixel. Recent technological advances have produced LCDs with time constants (approximately 16.7 milliseconds) approaching the frame period used in many video displays. Such a short time constant allows the LCD to respond quickly and is especially advantageous for depicting motion without noticeable smearing or flickering of the displayed image.
Conventional direct multiplexed addressing methods for LCDs encounter a problem when the display time constant approaches the frame period. The problem occurs because conventional direct multiplexed addressing methods subject each pixel to a short duration "selection" pulse once per frame. The voltage level of the selection pulse is typically 7-13 times higher than the rms voltages averaged over the frame period. The optical state of a pixel in an LCD having a short time constant tends to return towards an equilibrium state between selection pulses, resulting in lowered image contrast, because the human eye integrates the resultant brightness transients at a perceived intermediate level. In addition, the high level of the selection pulse can cause alignment instabilities in some types of LCDs.
To overcome the above-described problems, an "active addressing" method for driving rms responding electronic displays has been developed. The active addressing method continuously drives the row electrodes with signals comprising a train of periodic pulses having a common period T corresponding to the frame period. The row signals are independent of the image to be displayed and preferably are orthogonal and normalized, i.e., orthonormal. The term "orthogonal" denotes that, if the amplitude of a signal applied to one of the rows is multiplied by the amplitude of a signal applied to another one of the rows, the integral of this product over the frame period is zero. The term "normalized" denotes that all the row signals have the same rms voltage integrated over the frame period T.
During each frame period a plurality of signals for the column electrodes are calculated and generated from the collective state of the pixels in each of the columns. The column voltage at any time t during the frame period is proportional to the sum obtained by considering each pixel in the column, multiplying a "pixel value" representing the optical state (either -1 for fully "on", +1 for fully "off", or values between -1 and +1 for proportionally corresponding gray shades) of the pixel by the value of that pixel's row signal at time t, and adding the products obtained thereby to the sum.
If driven in the active addressing manner described above, it can be shown mathematically that there is applied to each pixel of the display an rms voltage averaged over the frame period, and that the rms voltage is proportional to the pixel value for the frame. The advantage of active addressing is that it restores high contrast to the displayed image because, instead of applying a single, high level selection pulse to each pixel during the frame period, active addressing applies a plurality of much lower level (2-5 times the rms voltage) selection pulses spread throughout the frame period. In addition, the much lower level of the selection pulses substantially reduces the probability of alignment instabilities. As a result, utilizing an active addressing method, rms responding electronic displays, such as LCDs utilized in portable radio devices, can display image data at video speeds without smearing or flickering. Additionally, LCDs driven with an active addressing method can display image data having multiple shades without the contrast problems present in LCDs driven with conventional multiplexed addressing methods.
Therefore, with the advent of active addressing methods, there exists an opportunity to develop an over-the-air communication system in which image data can be transmitted, using known data compression techniques, to a portable radio device. The portable radio device could thereafter decompress and display the image data on a conventional LCD driven with active addressing methods such as described above. However, most data compression and decompression techniques involve a large number of complex calculations, which can be performed by either software or hardware. Similarly, implementation of active addressing methods also involves complex calculations to calculate and generate the column signals applied to pixels in the columns of the LCD. These known data decompression and active addressing methods, therefore, would increase the amount of circuitry needed within a portable radio device, thereby increasing the size of the device and decreasing the battery life of the device, both of which are considered very undesirable from a consumer standpoint.
Thus, what is needed is a portable radio device in which image data can be decompressed and displayed without increasing the size of the radio device due to required decompression and addressing circuitry. Additionally, reduction in the battery life of the radio device should be minimized.